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DonorsChoose.org was founded in 2000[6] by Charwes Best, a sociaw studies teacher at Wings Academy in The Bronx. Charwes and his cowweagues often spent deir own money on schoow suppwies for deir students, and discussed materiaws dey wished dey couwd afford in de teachers’ wunchroom. Charwes envisioned a pwatform for individuaws to connect directwy wif cwassrooms in need, providing materiaws reqwested by teachers. Wif de hewp of his students, he buiwt de first version of de site in his cwassroom and invited cowweagues to post materiaw reqwests. Charwes anonymouswy funded de first 10 project reqwests to demonstrate de effectiveness of de site.

In 2003, de Oprah Winfrey Show featured Charwes Best in a segment on Innovative Teachers, which aired on June 20.[7] Traffic generated from de show crashed de site, but viewers donated $250,000 to cwassroom projects. The sustained exposure from de Oprah Winfrey Show awwowed DonorsChoose.org to expand from de New York City region to key metropowitan areas across de country.

As of September 2016, donors have contributed over $400 miwwion to fund more dan 750,000 cwassroom projects posted on de site, reaching 19 miwwion students in pubwic schoows across de United States. Reaw-time impact statistics are avaiwabwe on de DonorsChoose.org impact page [9] and open-source cwassroom data is offered to devewopers.[10]

DonorsChoose.org enabwes teachers to reqwest materiaws and resources for deir cwassrooms and makes dese project reqwests avaiwabwe to individuaw donors drough its website. Donors can give $1 or more to projects dat interest dem, which are searchabwe by schoow name, teacher name, wocation, schoow subject, materiaw, and keywords. DonorsChoose.org den purchases necessary suppwies and ships dem directwy to de schoows. Every project contains a wine-item budget and a description of de project. Aww donors receive photographs of de project taking pwace in de cwassroom and a wetter from de teacher. Donors who contribute $50 or more to a project awso receive hand-written dank-you notes from students.[11]

The operations of DonorsChoose.org are 100% supported by an optionaw 15% donation to overhead, teacher outreach, maintenance and buiwd-out of de DonorsChoose.org website. 85% of individuaw donors opt to incwude dis donation, uh-hah-hah-hah.[12]

DonorsChoose.org is open to aww pubwic and pubwic charter schoows in de United States, as weww as GED and Pre-K programs run by pubwic schoow systems.[13]

Aww “front wine educators” are ewigibwe to create accounts on de site and submit project reqwests. This incwudes teachers, wibrarians, guidance counsewors, schoow nurses and fuww-time teachers who awso act as coaches - aww must work directwy wif students for 75% or more of deir time.[14] Those who are not ewigibwe incwude principaws, administrators, PTA members, teachers' assistants, student teachers, substitutes, part-time teachers, after-schoow teachers, or staff devewopers.

Charwes Best spoke at de first annuaw Forbes 400 Summit On Phiwandropy in June, 2012.[19]

In May 2013, DonorsChoose.org mobiwized donations in support of educators in Moore, Okwahoma, whose schoows were devastated by an EF5 Tornado. CBS featured DonorsChoose.org as a trusted organization assisting de rewief effort in Okwahoma.[20]

Fast Company featured DonorsChoose.org as one of its Most Innovative Companies in 2011. DonorsChoose.org was de first charity to be given dis distinction, uh-hah-hah-hah.[21] In February 2014, DonorsChoose.org was wisted in de top 10 Most Innovative Companies, and de organization was featured as February’s cover story.[22]

Googwe's partnership wif de fund wed to criticism by donors and teachers in 2016. According to awwegations, new additionaw fees and ruwes were introduced dat created incentives in de DonorsChoose pwatform to favour expensive items over de basic goods dat schoows need de most. It was cwaimed dat dis hewped Googwe simuwtaneouswy have good pubwicity, seww deir own product (Chromebook) and have tax benefits from charity activities.[23]